Didn't you know all along?

Three time Tour de France winner (for now) Alberto Contador tested positive for a banned steroid during the last tour. Imagine my shock. Shock, I say!

Sigh.

Clemens to be indicted

The New York Times reports that Roger Clemens is to be indicted on charges of perjury, relating to his testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in 2008.

Now, that looks familiar.

Will Barry Bonds' many apologists quit with the "it's all about race" crap?

Wrong, wrong, wrong

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has handed back medals to the other members of relay teams tainted by Marion Jones' illegal drug use at the Sydney Olympics, reports the New York Times.

This is so very wrong. When three runners run fairly and the other cheats, you really didn't finish the race. You can't stop running after 3 legs of a 4x100m relay and say "well, we are leading, give us the gold." Despite the technical nature of the way the rules were written at the time, which is the basis of the decision, the court should have shown the flexibility to simply do what is right. And the runners should show the moral fortitude to stop claiming medals they did not properly win. Gloating about the result now isn't making them look good, either.

Stretching credibility

Ari Fleischer can claim "it doesn't cover this specific period" all he likes, but this quote is pretty damning:

Put it this way. If Paris Hilton were to take that array, she could run over Dick Butkus.

- Curtis Wenzlaff, McGwire's early career steroid supplier.

But by 1998, it was just to help with injury recovery? Sure, Ari. And I have a bridge over the East River you might like to buy.

And, by the way, will Barry Bonds' many apologists finally admit that this isn't about trying to tear down a black icon? McGwire and Clemens and Pettite don't look very black to me.

Two myths about 1998

I'd like to (once again) take a stand at what appears to be generally accepted wisdom about the height of the steroid era in baseball: 1998 to 2001 or so.

First, the oft-cited "fact" that steroids were not illegal in baseball at that time. They were not specifically banned, sure, but in 1971 a clause was inserted into the players' agreement which banned the use of any drug not prescribed for a valid medical purpose. Steroids, HGH, and so on did not need to be named individually. They were illegal. End of story.

Second, the even more oft-cited "fact" that baseball was saved by the home run chase in 1998. That only then did all the bitterness of the previous years melt away. That no one watched the epic 1997 World Series, that no Yankees fans celebrated wildly at their return to glory in 1996, that Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey, Jr. and the amazing Indians and Braves got no love in 1995's postseason. Oh, yeah, and then there was Cal Ripken, Jr. Remember him? Remember the streak? If you want the event that saved baseball, look at September 6, 1995. A 22 minute ovation for the mere fact of a game reaching the middle of the fifth. A home run shot that sent shivers down my spine, even as I followed along on ESPN's website from Australia. There was no strike bitterness that day. There was unbridled joy. Cal Ripken saved baseball, if anyone did.

Enough selective memory, people. Look at the whole story.

Mark McGwire fesses up

I'm sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids.

- Mark McGwire, now hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals

You could say that. Now, Sammy? Barry? Roger? Time to spill the beans, guys.

The evil of banality

Manny and Big Papi have joined the 2003 Leaked Names List, finally putting an official aura of anabolic steroids around 2004's Fellowship of the Bloody Sock. All of which ticks off Curt Schilling, but not nearly as much as the mealy mouthed excuses and half denials:

Female estrogen? I didn’t know what I was taking? I had no idea it was steroids? Do you honestly for one second think ANY player, ANY professional athlete who has been caught up in this allowed a cream to be rubbed, a needle to be stuck, or a pill to be taken and wasn’t aware that the substance was or was not a steroid?

Fans of Barry Bonds, the King of Control Freaks, take note.

Manny, of course, has already joined the Hall of Denial this year in L.A. And Ortiz always looked suspicious to me. The boost in numbers from his Twins career to his Red Sox career seemed a lot better than just a switch to Fenway Park would suggest. Here's his OPS+, which is park adjusted, as a Twin and a Red Sok:

Year  Age   G       OPS+
1997  21   15  MIN  107
1998  22   86  MIN  111
1999  23   10  MIN  -43
2000  24  130  MIN  101
2001  25   89  MIN  106
2002  26  125  MIN  120
2003  27  128  BOS  144
2004  28  150  BOS  145
2005  29  159  BOS  158
2006  30  151  BOS  161
2007  31  149  BOS  171
2008  32  109  BOS  123
2009  33   93  BOS   82

See a bright line there from 2003 to 2007? It's hard to spot, but try.

Here's Joe Torre's reaction, by the way:

I don’t think fans need to get chapter and verse on each individual and why and how much and when. We need to get their trust. I don’t think they need that information. I think they just need to know we’re doing everything we can to get this game back to where we want to have it.

That's so much garbage. Torre must think the guys at retrosheet spent the 1980s saying, "I'm not sure precisely how many hits Ty Cobb had in his career, but that's cool. I can let it be."

Chapter and verse is exactly what a large proportion of baseball fans need. We need to know exactly what happened, every season, every game, every play, every pitch, every trade, every minor change in uniform logo, every drug test, everything.

Screw your self-serving and idiotic confidentiality agreements. Tell us. Tell us everything.

Sending for reinforcements

Manny Acta is no more at the Washington Nationals. Apparently, balking in a run during an intentional walk is enough to get your manager fired. But you can't win a whole lot of games with two decent hitters and... well, nothing much else.

Jim Riggleman is the poor sap who inherits this mess. First in war, first in peace, last in the National League East. Have fun.

Speaking of people called to rescue lost causes, Aaron Sorkin of Sports Night fame is now in charge of the Moneyball movie. Best of luck, Aaron, and stay off the juice this time, ok?

News you already knew

Sammy Sosa tested positive for a banned substance in 2003. Imagine my shock at hearing that revelation. Why, no one had ever looked at Sammy's numbers and suggested that perhaps there were some incongruities in there.

I'll be here all week, still stunned.

Of course, this should let Steve Bartman off the hook...

Oh boy are my Dodgers ever screwed

Manny Ramirez suspended 50 games for a positive drug test.

I give up.

And while I'm on this topic

Miguel Tejada has been charged with lying to Congress about his steroid use. Add him to Roger Clemens, Dana Stubblefield, Marion Jones, and, oh yeah, Barry Bonds, who have all been charged with lying either to Congress or a grand jury.

Will the Bonds apologists stop claiming that he has been singled out? It's getting old.

Et tu, A-Rod?

Sports Illustrated is reporting that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for anabolic steroids in 2003, and was tipped off in advance of later tests by MLBPA general counsel Gene Orza. A-Rod, the AL home run champ of that year and several others, has a more than decent shot at passing Barry Bonds to finish as the career home run leader.

And what will that mean now? Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

The whole world knows Barry Bonds cheated systematically and for years. Anyone who knows me has heard of my high hopes that A-Rod could get past him and we could once again have a clean home run record holder.

Pardon my naivete. I should have known better.

Hank Aaron played clean, played hard, and played under incredible pressure to break Babe Ruth's record. I don't care what the apologists say. Hank Aaron is the real Home Run King.

Satire?

I can't tell any more. You make the call.

In any case, the revelation that the Clear was apparently not yet covered by Federal drug laws in 2001 has brought with it an avalanche of pro-Bonds columns, saying that somehow he is now completely vindicated, and further, that the whole circus has been some form of racist witch hunt.

Right.

The Clear was legal - big deal.

1. The 1971 agreement between management and players prohibited using any prescription medication without a valid prescription. This language has gotten more specific over time, but well and truly covers the Clear, whether the law of the US had caught up with that particular designer drug or not.

2. Bonds started using the Clear because it was then undetectable - unlike the previous anabolic steroids he was using that BALCO's own tests were easily able to detect. His cheating goes back before he ever hooked up with Conte.

3. There's no racial element here. Ask Roger Clemens how public opinion is running for him. It's about arrogant cheats who blame everyone else and won't admit their guilt in the face of a mountain of evidence.

Baseball thoughts

In 2008, some 108 players were granted an exemption from the MLB amphetamine ban, in order to treat attention deficit disorder. Call me distrustful, but I don't believe that many players are really in dire need of such treatment. Isn't it a felony to knowingly prescribe drugs that are not indicated by a valid diagnosis?

Congress: take note. This one needs investigation.

On a more pleasant note...

Much of the neutral fan's focus on Alex Rodriguez is related to his chances of beating Barry Bonds' career home run record. Presuming Bonds will not play again, and I think that's looking more than likely, A-Rod needs 210 home runs to claim the #1 spot on his own. He's currently 32 years old, and has nine years left to run on his Yankee contract.

The odds have to be in his favor, I think, barring major injury.

Of more interest to me, however, is the possibility that he may pass a more basic, but less well known record: Rickey Henderson's 2,295 runs scored. Rickey passed Ty Cobb, who had held the record forever, and Bonds is stalled in third place. A-Rod seems far away at 42nd spot with 1,605. But it's a much more crowded list, and he's on a team stacked with hitters. 691 runs in nine seasons? I can see it. He's scored 100+ runs in each of the last 13 seasons, even last year when missing a fair number of games.

My money says A-Rod will finish up holding both records. Anyone care to place a bet?

Superheroes

Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Seemingly invulnerable.

Joba Chaimberlain, arrested last night driving drunk, is just the latest footnote example in a long line of sports stars who seem to think that nothing can possibly happen to them. Australians will remember Darren Millane as Cardinals fans remember Josh Hancock - players who died with an incredible level of intoxication and thankfully took no one else with them.

Then there's people on a whole range of other levels: Wayne Carey, Ray Lewis, Jayson Williams. The rules just don't seem to apply to them, at least in their own minds. And sometimes in ours, too. Has a hero of your favorite team ever had legal charges dismissed, even if everyone thinks they probably did it anyway? Did you feel just a little relieved?

More on drugs

Last night we saw the excellent documentary Bigger, Stronger, Faster. I'd recommend this to anyone with an interest in the issue of drugs in sports. A very balanced, fair, and personal movie.

And while I am on the subject, the great Michael Johnson has made plain his feelings about the present rash of revelations, most notably with this statement about the 4x400 event in Sydney 2000:

As for the gold medal I won with Antonio, and Alvin and Calvin Harrison, who have all admitted to or have tested positive for drugs since 2000 when we won the medal, I'm sure that there will be calls for us to give it back. I'm not sure what will happen with that effort, but I know that the medal was not fairly won and that it is dirty, and so I have moved it from the location where I have always kept my medals because it doesn't belong there. And it doesn't belong to me.

So, as difficult as it is, I will be returning it to the IOC because I don't want it. I feel cheated, betrayed and let down.

I can't leave this alone

In a news story with all the surprise value of a big money free agent going to the Yankees, the FBI has begun investigations into the sworn testimony of Miguel Tejada and Roger Clemens. Lie to your team, lie to the fans, lie to reporters, but don't lie to the government. That's just stupid.

Roger Clemens

He looked like a frightened little kid there, in front of the House Oversight Committee. Not surprisingly, the Republican members of the committee sided largely against New Yorker McNamee and with Texan Clemens, and the Democrats went the other way.

We've been through this before many times - in a case of national notoriety, we are asked to choose between two wildly differing stories. And again, either one person is a garden variety liar, or another is the most spectacularly inventive storyteller of the decade.

I'll take "Clemens is just plain lying" for 200, please Alex.

The rumors are true

As first reported by Beth at BKNY 2.0, I did indeed order a #22 Yankees jersey with the name TAINTED on the back. So far, so good- the order is confirmed and in the system, and no-one has sent me a polite email to let me know the jersey violates their rules. I bet that wouldn't be the case if I'd tried for STEROIDS.

Next up: can I get thrown out of Yankee Stadium for creating a nuisance solely by wearing a Yankees jersey?

Yes, I am worked up about this

Call it roid rage. Anyway, further to the oft-mentioned chestnut about steroids not being against the rules prior to 2002, to quote the Mitchell Report:

Many have asserted that steroids and other performance enhancing substances were not banned in Major League Baseball before the 2002 Basic Agreement. This is not accurate. Beginning in 1971 and continuing today, Major League Baseball's drug policy has prohibited the use of any prescription medication without a valid prescription. By implication, this prohibition applied to steroids even before 1991, when Commissioner Fay Vincent first expressly included steroids in baseball's drug policy.

And once again, in any case, baseball does not occur in a vacuum. It is cheating to break the law in order to further your chances of winning a sporting contest. Capiche?

Andrew, please post about something else while I go and hide my drug paraphernalia...